Bravery, Reason, and Faith

In Kierkegaard's exposition, he discusses the bravery of Abraham, which Kierkegaard claims not to possess. In spite of this, he admits of a lesser bravery, that of following his own thoughts, be they pleasant or hideous. This led me to consider, what is bravery?

Bravery is ultimately tied to action. The lesser bravery of Kierkegaard, in facing ugly truths, realities, or visions, is tied to the action of the mind. But there is a greater bravery, that of heroes. This bravery is purely action; it is the bravery of men who do what no others will. Sometimes they fail in their act, but their bravery itself can achieve, by way of inspiration. Other times, they succeed in achieving what some would call impossible.

Not everyone who acts in the face of staggering odds is brave. If I were to attempt a triathlon over spring break, this would certainly not be an act of bravery. There are two qualifiers of bravery that are well highlighted by this scenario. First, I cannot complete a triathlon in my current state. To do so would be stupid; dually so, in that this physical test has no meaning for me. I would argue that acts of bravery require that they be worth doing. So, we find someone brave who undertakes real risk in attempting something of meaning (be it necessity or moral consequence).

Under this definition, not every great act is a brave one. Great acts involving little or no risk involve little or no bravery.

Also, not every well-intentioned failure is an act of bravery. If this act was truly an attempt at the impossible, our would be hero should have simply known better.

Where does Abraham fall in this picture? In his incredible faith, he has abandoned understanding (and to a degree, his reason) for faith in God, in order that he might follow God’s will. I would argue that bravery requires reason. Here, it seems Abraham is not brave. Is a faithful man who talks to God brave? There are only so brave as the person who achieves sense-certainty. For faith is the supersession of one’s own will with God’s. He who struggles with God might seem brave, but here I would argue they are stupid. Anyone who dares to contradict God (as the powerful creator presented in the Pentateuch) should know that they have no hope that they might succeed. Isaac’s very son Jacob serves as a counterexample to this claim, but it seems he didn’t know better, so I figured I could go ahead and post this.